Calorie Deficit and holding or gaining weight any thoughts on why?

2

Replies

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    My answer is simple so apologies for that.

    If you are hitting your calorie target but not losing weight over time then one or more of 4 things

    1 you are under estimating your calorie intake

    2 you are over estimating your calorie burns.

    3 your target is not right for you - if i set my calorie target to 3000 then doesnt matter how accurately I hit it, I won't lose weight, because 3000 is too high for my needs

    4 you have a medical issue interfering with the process.

    @ paperpudding

    Thanks for that input....

    Your points are all spot on...

    (4) Have regular medicals, including blood tests and have been in good health all my life! my body weight etc. has not caused medical comment and I wear normal size clothing for my height. Hence, when my wife commented on the fact that I had lost a lot of weight it came as a surprise. Refered back to my last check up data and fired up the scales to weigh myself and was frankly shocked to find I had shed 15lb.
    (3) Yes! For my age height etc. common wisdom suggests 161lb is the least I should aim at. However, at 164lb I still have plenty of fat around my middle, not just loose skin, am I wrong to be assuming this means that I have a way to go still? I don't know the answer to that so I am asking.
    (2) Possible, very possible. I cant find anything that will give me accurate (general) numbers on the exercises I do. However I do an hour to an hour and a half at around 120bpm heart rate, and on alternate days an hours walk through hilly country that gets me into 120-150bpm. I am relying on MFP numbers as a measure.
    (1) again possibly/probably as I am relying on the data within MFP and individual package data. I am not 'cheating' myself and not accounting for ALL consumed.

    So fixed diet and exercise over the period 23 Nov : 74.3, 74.3, 74.1, 74.7, then 74.1 till 6th Dec, then 74.4, 74.3, 74.4, 74.5, 75, then 74.3 for 5 days and 74.5,74.3 74.5,75.1, then 75 for four days ( one of which was Christmas Day) and then 75.8 for 2 days then 76.4 which is where it is stuck.
    40 days fairly constant and then 5days after Christmas up to 76+. My Christmas, and post Christmas 'binge' has remained calorie deficit days!!

    Conclusion I draw from feedback is : it is what it is, suck it up and just keep going....

    Cheers and thanks again.


    that not what I meant by 3) - I didnt mean your goal weight could be wrong target, I meant your calorie goal could be wrong target.

    So, looks like medical condition is not the problem.

    Check your calorie target is correct - ie your stats have been correctly entered in to MFP

    and then it really is just logging accuracy intake and excercise burns - for weight loss

    and experimenting with food specifics, timing etc for satiation and therefore sustainability
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    My answer is simple so apologies for that.

    If you are hitting your calorie target but not losing weight over time then one or more of 4 things

    1 you are under estimating your calorie intake

    2 you are over estimating your calorie burns.

    3 your target is not right for you - if i set my calorie target to 3000 then doesnt matter how accurately I hit it, I won't lose weight, because 3000 is too high for my needs

    4 you have a medical issue interfering with the process.

    @ paperpudding

    Thanks for that input....

    Your points are all spot on...

    (4) Have regular medicals, including blood tests and have been in good health all my life! my body weight etc. has not caused medical comment and I wear normal size clothing for my height. Hence, when my wife commented on the fact that I had lost a lot of weight it came as a surprise. Refered back to my last check up data and fired up the scales to weigh myself and was frankly shocked to find I had shed 15lb.
    (3) Yes! For my age height etc. common wisdom suggests 161lb is the least I should aim at. However, at 164lb I still have plenty of fat around my middle, not just loose skin, am I wrong to be assuming this means that I have a way to go still? I don't know the answer to that so I am asking.
    (2) Possible, very possible. I cant find anything that will give me accurate (general) numbers on the exercises I do. However I do an hour to an hour and a half at around 120bpm heart rate, and on alternate days an hours walk through hilly country that gets me into 120-150bpm. I am relying on MFP numbers as a measure.
    (1) again possibly/probably as I am relying on the data within MFP and individual package data. I am not 'cheating' myself and not accounting for ALL consumed.

    So fixed diet and exercise over the period 23 Nov : 74.3, 74.3, 74.1, 74.7, then 74.1 till 6th Dec, then 74.4, 74.3, 74.4, 74.5, 75, then 74.3 for 5 days and 74.5,74.3 74.5,75.1, then 75 for four days ( one of which was Christmas Day) and then 75.8 for 2 days then 76.4 which is where it is stuck.
    40 days fairly constant and then 5days after Christmas up to 76+. My Christmas, and post Christmas 'binge' has remained calorie deficit days!!

    Conclusion I draw from feedback is : it is what it is, suck it up and just keep going....

    Cheers and thanks again.


    that not what I meant by 3) - I didnt mean your goal weight could be wrong target, I meant your calorie goal could be wrong target.

    So, looks like medical condition is not the problem.

    Check your calorie target is correct - ie. your stats have been correctly entered in to MFP

    and then it really is just logging accuracy intake and exercise burns - for weight loss

    and experimenting with food specifics, timing etc for satiation and therefore sustainability

    @paperpudding

    Calorie target I am using is the MFP active one I think, and all my stats are good, checked that thanks.

    Health wise Doctors and Specialists gave me the thumbs up to go for it so I am. We are here but once in this form so I am living it on my terms...While I still can, another decade on may be a tad different but who knows.

    As to experimenting with food, I have been tinkering, with carbs and protein % mainly at breakfast, and lunch but that is an area that I need to find someone I trust to take that further.

    Cheers

    Andrew
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    My answer is simple so apologies for that.

    If you are hitting your calorie target but not losing weight over time then one or more of 4 things

    1 you are under estimating your calorie intake

    2 you are over estimating your calorie burns.

    3 your target is not right for you - if i set my calorie target to 3000 then doesnt matter how accurately I hit it, I won't lose weight, because 3000 is too high for my needs

    4 you have a medical issue interfering with the process.

    @ paperpudding

    Thanks for that input....

    Your points are all spot on...

    (4) Have regular medicals, including blood tests and have been in good health all my life! my body weight etc. has not caused medical comment and I wear normal size clothing for my height. Hence, when my wife commented on the fact that I had lost a lot of weight it came as a surprise. Refered back to my last check up data and fired up the scales to weigh myself and was frankly shocked to find I had shed 15lb.
    (3) Yes! For my age height etc. common wisdom suggests 161lb is the least I should aim at. However, at 164lb I still have plenty of fat around my middle, not just loose skin, am I wrong to be assuming this means that I have a way to go still? I don't know the answer to that so I am asking.
    (2) Possible, very possible. I cant find anything that will give me accurate (general) numbers on the exercises I do. However I do an hour to an hour and a half at around 120bpm heart rate, and on alternate days an hours walk through hilly country that gets me into 120-150bpm. I am relying on MFP numbers as a measure.
    (1) again possibly/probably as I am relying on the data within MFP and individual package data. I am not 'cheating' myself and not accounting for ALL consumed.

    So fixed diet and exercise over the period 23 Nov : 74.3, 74.3, 74.1, 74.7, then 74.1 till 6th Dec, then 74.4, 74.3, 74.4, 74.5, 75, then 74.3 for 5 days and 74.5,74.3 74.5,75.1, then 75 for four days ( one of which was Christmas Day) and then 75.8 for 2 days then 76.4 which is where it is stuck.
    40 days fairly constant and then 5days after Christmas up to 76+. My Christmas, and post Christmas 'binge' has remained calorie deficit days!!

    Conclusion I draw from feedback is : it is what it is, suck it up and just keep going....

    Cheers and thanks again.

    For your yoga, use MFP's "Stretching, hatha yoga" entry under "Cardiovascular". For your no-weights strength workout, I'd suggest using "Calisthenics, home, light/moderate effort". If your Garmin is a model is one that lets you pick which exercise you're doing (as mine does), set your watch to track the yoga when you do it, and compare Garmin's calorie estimate to MFP's. Use whichever is lower. Or, if you have your Garmin synched to MFP, make sure you have negative adjustments enabled, and don't even bother to log exercise separately - let MFP and Garmin swap data and do arithmetic with the calorie totals. One of those methods is going to be about the best you can do, IMO.

    If you want feedback on exercise intensity, but have never tested for HR max, you need to at least tell us how old you are. As I said, I'm 65. I have a tested HR max. If I used my age in the (not very accurate) 220-age formula for estimating max, it would claim 155. (Other estimating formulas exist.)

    If you're reaching 156 while walking (even with hills) it's extremely likely that your max is well above 156. For me (with an actual max around 180), 120bpm is very light exercise, like 50%-ish heart rate reserve, not even up into the recovery zone (or UT2, depending on what analytic scheme you want to use), let alone aerobic zone/UT1. However, heart rate is not a very good basis for estimating calories for any of the exercises you've mentioned doing.

    For the walking, one option is to use (0.3 X distance in miles X weight in pounds). That will underestimate, especially given the hills, but since you're not losing when you think you should, I wouldn't worry about that underestimate, if I were you. Or, use the link sijomial suggested, to calculate NET (not gross) calories, and log that:

    https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

    Much of my post is repeating advice others have given you, of course.

    If you're at a healthy weight (or close) but want more muscle and less fat, increase or improve strength exercise. That would be pursuing recomposition (a slow process). More information about that here:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

    If you're not following a well-designed professional program for your strength exercise, use one from this thread (despite the title, it includes programs that don't require you to have weights):

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    Your being (what seems like) secretive about relevant but not particularly sensitive information is not letting us help you with the things you say you want help with, frankly. Implicitly, you're deciding you want privacy for that information more than you want help. That's your decision, of course.

    Wishing you well, sincerely!

    @AnnPT77

    Thank you for that lengthy and helpful post.

    Currently using 'stretching hatha yoga, and will now add calisthenics ...thanks for that one.

    HR have a matrix from somewhere, Garmin perhaps?? has 5 zones based on my age, height and weight. age 73-4, height 5'11 3/4" and weight 166lb down from 187 in Sept last. when I started all this.
    Zone 4 is 116-131bpm @ 80-90%
    Zone 5 is 131-146bpm @ 90-100%
    so the calc suggested that I should aim at 146 as a max I assume.

    As to age I thought I had indicated that I am 73, 74 in 4 weeks!!

    Its not that I am secretive or hiding anything, just not comfortable with having stuff out there to be randomly browsed by anyone. Feel free to ask anything you think will be helpful to get me pointing in the right direction
    not looking or expecting to muscle up. This is about quality of life day to day and being able to stay on this property for as long as possible.

    We have a house In the City of Melbourne in Australia and I shudder at the thought of returning to City life. We live in a forest surrounded by beauty and quiet. Retired from Corporate life at 52 and worked the last 19 years driving trucks in cash logistics, retired at 72 because I was ready to take that step. S glad I did loving retirement.

    Health wise I have had arrhythmia for the last 14 years, I medicate but ignore it my choice is to live a full and productive life and only gave up starting and training Western horses a couple of years ago. The property is high maintenance so I am active 12 hours a day 7days a week.

    again, thank you for giving me your time,

    Andrew

    If you're seeing 150+ heart rate while walking, without any negative health symptoms accompanying it, 146 is not your max heart rate.

    In general, max heart rate is not a number you calculate and "aim at". Instead, it's a number that can be measured (with difficulty), more like body temperature. It's the highest heart rate your body can deliver under healthy conditions. (As with body temperature, you may exceed your normal maximum heart rate during a health crisis of some sort.)

    Different people have different maximum heart rates (mostly for genetic reasons), and it tends to slowly decline as we age (some research suggests it declines more slowly in people who stay active). That tendency to decline is why age is used to *estimate* it, but those estimates are materially incorrect for a large number of people. (You appear to be one of them).

    If you've seen numbers that are 150+, and you weren't in a health crisis (i.e., you were just working hard, feeling OK otherwise) assume your maximum heart rate is a number higher than the highest one you've seen. (There are circumstances is which one might reach maximum heart rate during exercise, but it doesn't "just happen" during something like walking.) Short of actually being tested, if you've seen (say) 155, I'd suggest assuming your actual max is at least 10 higher, perhaps more.

    Take that extrapolated-from-observation estimate, plus your resting heart rate, and plug it into a heart rate range calculator (preferably Karvonen formula). There's one at this link, for example: https://www.ottawarun.com/heartrate.htm

    Enter the estimated max, don't enter your age. Use the Karvonen column as your ranges.

    That will give you better estimates of your exercise ranges. (It's still the case that the ranges have little direct applicability to estimating calories, though.)
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    22xpp1wark9w.png

    This trend graph is what got me searching for answers. I am at a loss to explain the continuing downward trend but I am in hopes that it continues.

    As previously stated,through all of this I have been at pains to a) maintain exercise levels and calorie deficit. my break out was to have turkey instead of chicken. and one small piece of plain, shop bought christmas cake..for which I established a calorie value prior to consuming!! On 26th was back to chicken and no cake... drove me near crazy with temptation tho!!
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Based on your height and weight, you're close to ideal weight. That's usually why it's harder to maintain or lose.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    @ninerbuff

    Absolutely so. However, I my goal to eliminate the 'spare' fat around my middle. From all my research I am not expecting that to go easily or quickly and envisage that it may be a 6-8 month, or longer process. a simple pinch test is showing me that the fat layer around the belly and sides is quite a bit thicker than in other parts.

    Still a swing of 5lb over such a short time seems odd to me, am I looking at 'normal' weight behavior? given that my body metabolism must be going through some adjustment?
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    drjf4dexktgd.png

    This is boringly typical of my days food intake. Lunch menu changes each day, sardine, chicken, salmon. On this day I had rice cakes with lunch, not usual.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    22xpp1wark9w.png

    This trend graph is what got me searching for answers. I am at a loss to explain the continuing downward trend but I am in hopes that it continues.

    As previously stated,through all of this I have been at pains to a) maintain exercise levels and calorie deficit. my break out was to have turkey instead of chicken. and one small piece of plain, shop bought christmas cake..for which I established a calorie value prior to consuming!! On 26th was back to chicken and no cake... drove me near crazy with temptation tho!!


    Aha! A sharp upturn the day after unusual carb(cake) and very slow downturn after.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Based on your height and weight, you're close to ideal weight. That's usually why it's harder to maintain or lose.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    @ninerbuff

    Absolutely so. However, I my goal to eliminate the 'spare' fat around my middle. From all my research I am not expecting that to go easily or quickly and envisage that it may be a 6-8 month, or longer process. a simple pinch test is showing me that the fat layer around the belly and sides is quite a bit thicker than in other parts.

    Still a swing of 5lb over such a short time seems odd to me, am I looking at 'normal' weight behavior? given that my body metabolism must be going through some adjustment?

    Over that same approximate time period, 12/11 until today, my lowest weight was 124.4 pounds (on 12/11), and my highest was 128.6 (morning after Christmas: Imagine that! 🤣), swing of 4.2 pounds on a smaller-sized body than yours, which didn't surprise or alarm me at all . . . so I'm going to go with "Yeah, that's normal".
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    Good observation,
    ....so that points to sugar rich, loaded with dry fruit being a BIG no no for me anytime hey!...So sad
    it was so nice too!
    Noted and off the list altogether.

    thanks

    Andrew
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    a simple pinch test is showing me that the fat layer around the belly and sides is quite a bit thicker than in other parts.

    But isnt that normal - don't most people have more fat on their belly than other parts of the body, even if at a healthy weight?

    since you are close to ideal weight, perhaps your issue is more re comp than more weight loss - ie strengthen your abdominal muscles so your belly is less flabby?

    Just a thought.
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    a simple pinch test is showing me that the fat layer around the belly and sides is quite a bit thicker than in other parts.

    But isnt that normal - don't most people have more fat on their belly than other parts of the body, even if at a healthy weight?

    since you are close to ideal weight, perhaps your issue is more re comp than more weight loss - ie strengthen your abdominal muscles so your belly is less flabby?

    Just a thought.

    @paperpudding

    Well it is a common sight today. Many years ago when I was young I lived in rural Africa. Then it was absolutely uncommon to see anyone, male or female, overweight. Even the old Grandma's that had come up in their youth by ox wagon were slimmer than today.

    Getting fit and strengthening my body, targeting core, and the muscle supporting my spine are my 'goal' I am assuming that as a natural outcome of that the abs and back will get a tad denser. Perhaps 80-90% of the weight I have removed is from that area. I have a light frame, chicken legs and spider arms.

    I actually have a my senior school shorts still and I am getting very close to being able to get into them AND do ALL the buttons up. In September I could only just get them over my butt and the waist band went only a tad more than 2/3rds around my waist!!! the tape measure told me that my middle (around the belly button ) was 39.2"!!!!
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    Good observation,
    ....so that points to sugar rich, loaded with dry fruit being a BIG no no for me anytime hey!...So sad
    it was so nice too!
    Noted and off the list altogether.

    thanks

    Andrew

    No, not necessarily. When we metabolize carbs, our body holds onto a bit of water weight, releases it when it's done. The water associated with our typical carb intake is part of what we're used to seeing on the scale, so we don't even realize. But if we eat noticeably more carbs/sugar than usual, the scale tends to jump upward. But it's not fat gain, so there's no reason to worry about it, if you ask me. It's just part of how a healthy body behaves.

    Personally, I'm not going to stop enjoying the occasional indulgent treat, just to avoid a temporary and meaningless water weight jump. YMMV. Personally, I'm concerned about body fat, which is all about the calories; it tends to be reflected in longer term (multi-week) trends on the scale, not day to day random jumps.

    (Lots of other things can cause water weight jumps on the scale, too. Best to understand and accept them, I think, not stress out and over-react. Just my view, though.)

    @AnnPT77

    I am prone to fluid retention anyway, apparently due to AF? However, in the bad ol' days pre 2000 I drank only tea or sweet drinks ( don't do alcohol or smoke). I made a start at supplementing some water but only the odd glass and not on a regular basis. Sept. I dropped all 'drinks' and now only drink water with an occasional green tea after lunch. Otherwise a post meal drink is warm water. We are blessed with having a pure mineral water bore on the farm so that's my go to now. Strangely since upping the water, and significantly increasing exercise the fluid retention is not showing itself.

    It is becoming apparent that weight fluctuation is normal, something I have to become accustomed to. In days gone by I rarely showed any variation, did not have to think about what I ate or when...that seems to have changed some time late in my 50's.
    I truly believed that the weight in my belly was a natural thing as an aging male, so did not give it a second thought. My Doctors have never said I should lose weight either...that all added to the shock when my partner said she thought I had lost a lot of weight and got on the scales and put on a pair of trousers with a belt....I was shocked to the core and that motivated me to get serious about overall fitness rather than just the targeted stretching I was doing for my back.

    Sorry I am waffelin' on but the last three months have been an astonishing revelation to me.

    Cheers
    Andrew
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    Good observation,
    ....so that points to sugar rich, loaded with dry fruit being a BIG no no for me anytime hey!...So sad
    it was so nice too!
    Noted and off the list altogether.

    thanks

    Andrew

    No, not necessarily. When we metabolize carbs, our body holds onto a bit of water weight, releases it when it's done. The water associated with our typical carb intake is part of what we're used to seeing on the scale, so we don't even realize. But if we eat noticeably more carbs/sugar than usual, the scale tends to jump upward. But it's not fat gain, so there's no reason to worry about it, if you ask me. It's just part of how a healthy body behaves.

    Personally, I'm not going to stop enjoying the occasional indulgent treat, just to avoid a temporary and meaningless water weight jump. YMMV. Personally, I'm concerned about body fat, which is all about the calories; it tends to be reflected in longer term (multi-week) trends on the scale, not day to day random jumps.

    (Lots of other things can cause water weight jumps on the scale, too. Best to understand and accept them, I think, not stress out and over-react. Just my view, though.)

    @AnnPT77

    I am prone to fluid retention anyway, apparently due to AF? However, in the bad ol' days pre 2000 I drank only tea or sweet drinks ( don't do alcohol or smoke). I made a start at supplementing some water but only the odd glass and not on a regular basis. Sept. I dropped all 'drinks' and now only drink water with an occasional green tea after lunch. Otherwise a post meal drink is warm water. We are blessed with having a pure mineral water bore on the farm so that's my go to now. Strangely since upping the water, and significantly increasing exercise the fluid retention is not showing itself.

    It is becoming apparent that weight fluctuation is normal, something I have to become accustomed to. In days gone by I rarely showed any variation, did not have to think about what I ate or when...that seems to have changed some time late in my 50's.
    I truly believed that the weight in my belly was a natural thing as an aging male, so did not give it a second thought. My Doctors have never said I should lose weight either...that all added to the shock when my partner said she thought I had lost a lot of weight and got on the scales and put on a pair of trousers with a belt....I was shocked to the core and that motivated me to get serious about overall fitness rather than just the targeted stretching I was doing for my back.

    Sorry I am waffelin' on but the last three months have been an astonishing revelation to me.

    Cheers
    Andrew

    You may find this article informative:

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    Good observation,
    ....so that points to sugar rich, loaded with dry fruit being a BIG no no for me anytime hey!...So sad
    it was so nice too!
    Noted and off the list altogether.

    thanks

    Andrew

    No, not necessarily. When we metabolize carbs, our body holds onto a bit of water weight, releases it when it's done. The water associated with our typical carb intake is part of what we're used to seeing on the scale, so we don't even realize. But if we eat noticeably more carbs/sugar than usual, the scale tends to jump upward. But it's not fat gain, so there's no reason to worry about it, if you ask me. It's just part of how a healthy body behaves.

    Personally, I'm not going to stop enjoying the occasional indulgent treat, just to avoid a temporary and meaningless water weight jump. YMMV. Personally, I'm concerned about body fat, which is all about the calories; it tends to be reflected in longer term (multi-week) trends on the scale, not day to day random jumps.

    (Lots of other things can cause water weight jumps on the scale, too. Best to understand and accept them, I think, not stress out and over-react. Just my view, though.)

    @AnnPT77

    I am prone to fluid retention anyway, apparently due to AF? However, in the bad ol' days pre 2000 I drank only tea or sweet drinks ( don't do alcohol or smoke). I made a start at supplementing some water but only the odd glass and not on a regular basis. Sept. I dropped all 'drinks' and now only drink water with an occasional green tea after lunch. Otherwise a post meal drink is warm water. We are blessed with having a pure mineral water bore on the farm so that's my go to now. Strangely since upping the water, and significantly increasing exercise the fluid retention is not showing itself.

    It is becoming apparent that weight fluctuation is normal, something I have to become accustomed to. In days gone by I rarely showed any variation, did not have to think about what I ate or when...that seems to have changed some time late in my 50's.
    I truly believed that the weight in my belly was a natural thing as an aging male, so did not give it a second thought. My Doctors have never said I should lose weight either...that all added to the shock when my partner said she thought I had lost a lot of weight and got on the scales and put on a pair of trousers with a belt....I was shocked to the core and that motivated me to get serious about overall fitness rather than just the targeted stretching I was doing for my back.

    Sorry I am waffelin' on but the last three months have been an astonishing revelation to me.

    Cheers
    Andrew

    You may find this article informative:

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    @AnnPT77

    Now that is my kind of reading and answers a lot of questions I was afraid to ask (haha!)
    many, many thanks for that it will help HEAPS.

    Pity my partner is still snoozing when I get up to exercise I'm getting to the point where I require a screen, Tom Petty best of collection video, or similar at full noise and just rip the hell out of the carpet for an hour ( still cant not move when the music gets serious thanks to a mis-spent youth, middle age and ....? 'still!!) )... I might just switch now that summer is kicking in and do my 6km walk first, that gives her an hours grace and do the indoor exercise after I get back.
    :D

    Cheers

    Andrew
  • 4ajguthrie
    4ajguthrie Posts: 43 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    My suggestions for logging your exercise:
    Log the entire duration of your stength training in the CV part of the diary (rather than individual exercises) - it's a modest estimate which is truthful as strength training may feel hard but is not a big burner.
    Search for "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)"

    For walking the database here is badly inflated as it's a gross calorie estimate which means you double count your basal calories (skews the numbers badly for long duration but low burn exercise). Pick the net calorie estimate from this calculator instead - https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

    Heartrate is a very poor metric for estimating calorie burns from both strength training and walking.

    @sijomial

    Gee you were not kidding it skews the calculations....MFP credits 497Calories for a 6km walk where Walk/RunMETs calculates it at 225calories.

    Just as well I have not been relying on the data to plan my calories in !!!!

    Thanks for that link

    Cheers

    Andrew
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    4ajguthrie wrote: »
    a simple pinch test is showing me that the fat layer around the belly and sides is quite a bit thicker than in other parts.

    But isnt that normal - don't most people have more fat on their belly than other parts of the body, even if at a healthy weight?

    since you are close to ideal weight, perhaps your issue is more re comp than more weight loss - ie strengthen your abdominal muscles so your belly is less flabby?

    Just a thought.

    @paperpudding

    Well it is a common sight today. Many years ago when I was young I lived in rural Africa. Then it was absolutely uncommon to see anyone, male or female, overweight. Even the old Grandma's that had come up in their youth by ox wagon were slimmer than today.

    well, sure - people in rural Africa probably had very little body fat anywhere, but still more on belly than anywhere else.

    and presumably they had a life of physical labour - so they wouldn't have a flabby belly but strong abdominal muscles.

  • Mithridites
    Mithridites Posts: 595 Member
    I would guess a lot of what you're interpreting to be belly fat is actually loose skin with small lumps of fat pulling it down and making it more obvious. It might still retract some, given enough time.